Harris Schrank Fine Prints Abstract

M a x W e b e r – – 1 8 8 1 – 1 9 6 1 Invocation- – 1919-20, Color Woodcut. Rubenstein 27. Proofs only. Signed in pencil. Image size 3 3/4 x 2 1/8 inches (124 x 54 mm); sheet size ...

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Etching for Stephen Spender “Fraternity”, etching and drypoint, 1939, signed in pencil lower right. Reference: Roethel 2...

Louis Marcoussis (1883-1941), Un Reve, etching, 1930, signed in pencil lower right and inscribed “2nd etat 1/2” lower left. Plate 1 of the portfolio Aurelia. Reference: Milet 55II, second state (of 4), before the edition (of 153 in the fourth state). In good condition, on a wove paper with full margins (a small area of discoloration below the border lower left, remains of prior glue right margin edge), 7 1/4 x 5 3/8, the sheet 15 5/8 x 9 3/8 inches, archival matting. A fine impression of a rare proof, before the edition. This is one of the two proofs of the second state. After this state the plate was reduced in a third state (from 183 to 174 mm), and then steel faced for the edition. Provenance: Libreria Prandi Reggio (blindstamp lower right corner) Jean Cassou and Pierre Courthion asked Marcoussis to illustrate Aurelia, a novel by Gerard de Merval. This was the first album of their collection “Le Blanc et Le Noir,” edition chez Fourcade. Marcoussis was familiar with this novel, in which imagination and reality intermingle. In it de Merval wrote: “La Reve est une seconde vie.” (The Dream is a parallel life.) Marcoussis wrote of the print: “Il ressemblait a l’Ange de la Melancholie d’Albrecht Durer.” (It recalls the angel in Durer’s Melancholia...

John Marin (1870-1953), Downtown, The El, etching, 1921, signed in pencil lower left (also signed and dated in the plate). Reference: Zigrosser 134, only state. Published initially by Alfred Stieglitz and then included as part of the Folio of American Etchings by the magazine The New Republic in 1924, in an edition of unknown size but probably above 500. In very good condition, the full sheet, on Van Gelder wove paper, 6 3/4 x 8 3/4, the sheet 11 x 13 3/4 inches. Provenance: Hirschl and Adler Galleries, Inc., New York, New York. A fine bright impression. Initially the New Republic Set, sometimes known as Six American Etchings, contained Marin’s Brooklyn Bridge No. 6 (Swaying) (Zigrosser 112). But after a small number of sets were completed, Downtown the El was substituted for Zigrosser 112 (and so the number of Downtown The Els in the set would have been a bit fewer than the others in the set). Zigrosser, who apparently had not seen a complete set at the time he created the catalogue raisonne, conjectured that the substitution might have been because the original plate was damaged. But since the printer, Peter Platt, was the most renowned artist’s printer of his time, and worked alone, it is unlikely that he would have damaged the plate; a more likely possibility is that he switched to a print that was more comparable in size to the others in the set (The Brooklyn Bridge print...

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Etching 1916 Number II, drypoint, signed in pencil lower right, titled, numbered (No. 9) and dated lower left [also with initials and date in the plate lower right]. Reference: Roethel 154, only state, edition of 10. In excellent condition (the barest handling fold at sheet edge), printed on a heavy ivory wove paper, the full sheet with full margins, 4 7/8 x 3 1/4, the sheet 17 1/2 x 13 inches, archival mount with window mat. A fine fresh impression of this great rarity, printed in a dark brown ink. Kandinsky created this drypoint (erroneously named Etching 1916) in early 1916 while staying with Gabriel Munter in Stockholm during the winter of 1915-16. This is from the second series of drypoints he made; the first was in the year 1913-14. Provenance: Kornfeld Auction, Bern, June 2007. The tiny size of this edition (10) makes this print a great rarity within the Kandinsky’s printed...

Andre Masson (1896-1988), Blue Serpent, 1957, 2 plates, 1) etching and aquatint in colors, signed, dated (30/7/61) and  inscribed “pour Louis Broder epreuve d’artiste.” Reference: S...

Cyril Power (1872-1951) color linoleum cut, Monseignor St. Thomas, circa 1931, signed and titled in pencil at the lower right, apart from the edition of 60. Reference: Redfern 24. In very good condition, on buff oriental laid tissue, conservation matted, with margins, 13 7/8 x 11 1/8, the sheet 15 x 12 5/8 inches. A fine impression, with the colors fresh and vivid. Printed in four colors (yellow, red, blue and dark blue). The prints of the Grosvenor School artists were created by applying colors with successive blocks. The margins show the colors of each of these blocks (see illustration of the margin). The subject matter of this print relates to TS Eliot...

Claude Flight (1881-1955), Swing Boats, circa 1919-1921, color linoleum cut on very thin Japan paper, signed and numbered by the artist lower left. In very ...

Sybil Andrews (1898-1992), Sails, linocut in colors, 1960, signed (twice), titled, and inscribed “TP” in pencil. Reference: White 50. In good condition, two sheets, each image 7 1/...